Satellite campus of IIT(Madras) in Kerala

Madras IIT has agreed to start one of their satellite campuses in Kerala, Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan told the Assembly today.

The proposed campus, to be set up on 250 acres of land, required an estimated amount of rs.800 crore, he said while replying to a submission on the necessity for setting up an IIT in the state.

Achuthanandan said place for the IIT campus has not been finalised.

The state government has informed Madras IIT to start the first batch during the 2007-08 academy year in the Engineering College here. It was planned to commission the full-fledged campus of IIT within five years after starting the work of the campus,he said.

To a calling attention motion on setting up a Hight Court bench at Kozhikode,Achuthanandan said proposal for setting up the High Court bench at Thiruvananthapuram was under the active consideration of both the Centre and state governments.

There was no proposal before the government to set up a High Court bench at Kozhikode, he said.

An absence of an High Court bench at Thiruvananthapuram was causing difficulty in dealing with government cases, he said adding the state's capital was the only one in the country which did not have a High Court bench.

On speeding up the work of International Airport at Kannur, Achuthanandan said a special officer would be appointed to carry out the land acquisition process.

The State has also informed the Centre that the proposed airport coming up at Moorgkenparambu would be on a public-private partnership, he added.

To another submission, Achuthanandan said strict instructions have been given to departments and PSU heads to report the vacancies to Public Service Commission.

Action would be taken against officials who failed to report the vacancies, he said adding government would not allow persons to be appointed on daily wages in institutions and organisations where appointments were made through PSC.

A committee,under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary, has been constituted to monitor the vacancy report of various departments, he said.

A total of 14,614 vacancies have been reported to the PSC by various departments after the LDF government came to power, he pointed out.